Becoming a Professional

I am about to officially find out that I passed the Registered Occupational Hygienist exam, which is the most difficult professional designation for a specialized subset of occupational health and safety called occupational hygiene, which is what I do. It's recognized by the international governing body as the equivalent of Certified Industrial Hygienist accreditation in the US.

That's great, right?

Except at my employer, it means I "lose" overtime. That doesn't make sense, so let me explain.

Right now, if I work more than the "standard hours" (42.0 hours, I think), I get to "bank" the extra time to use as paid time off. If I don't take the time off, I'm paid for the extra time (straight time, not at over-time pay) at the end of the year.

All "professionals" (those with professional designations) at my employer do not get overtime. Professionals often still work more than the "standard hours", but they get no recognition of it. I realize many people don't get paid for working more hours than they're paid for, but it's just disappointing to have the extra paid time, then lose it.

And I don't even get a raise!

Why'd I stress myself out over writing this test again?

Geez Louise, KFL&A Public Health!

I try not to curse, because cursing is vulgar. Of course, there are times when it feels like nothing but the "bad" words will describe how you feel. So "geez louise" is a subdued (and "corny) description of how I feel right now.

Here in Canada, we are blessed by some foresight by our public health officials. After the SARS fiasco, in which the City of Toronto's inadequate response (both inadequate hospital infection control and occupational safety) led to numerous cases spreading within hospitals and resulted in many deaths (including a front-line nurse), the Ontario provincial government and the federal government realized we were not ready for a pandemic flu outbreak. Provincially, public health infrastructure was strengthened. Infection control in acute care (mostly hospitals) improved, but it's still not perfect. Federally, a pandemic plan was created, including pre-purchasing vaccine to a pandemic influenza. Not knowing the vaccine, they obviously didn't actually purchase it, but they entered a contract with a pharmaceutical supplier to guarantee enough vaccines for every Canadian.

That's right, every Canadian has guaranteed access to the vaccine, if he or she wants it.

Every province rolls out the vaccine stockpiles differently. In Ontario, our public health units administer it. In fact, in Ontario we're the only province to get a free flu shot from the public health units every year, so the public health units were set up for this task. This week, priority for this vaccine was given to those with "underlying health conditions", those who are pregnant, young children, and healthcare workers get it this week. Next week, everyone can get it. Since I have asthma, I'm at a higher risk of complications if I get the H1N1 influenza (aka swine flu aka pandemic influenza), so I'm in this group. I showed up to a clinic yesterday at a local church, and was disturbed by the gabillion vehicles parked up and down the road for it. So I left! Today's clinic was from 9am - 9pm, so around 10:30ish, I showed up to a clinic with my mom (who's on chemo) and was told the wait list was 2 hours. She didn't feel she could handle waiting 2 hours in line, so we left. She went back around 3pm when the wait was under an hour. I went back around 7pm and was told they weren't letting people in line so they could close at 9pm. I looked at the line, and it wasn't even half what it had been when it was "two hours". So I didn't get it.

I am upset and the inefficiency. You say you're open until 9pm, then let me get in line at 7pm. Tell me that if I'm not seen by 9pm, I won't get to see a nurse, then let me make the decision whether to get in line and hope for the best or walk away.
(I suspect the healthcare providers are just as frustrated as the patients!)

I might try going tomorrow, but I'm not sure. It's just frustrating, because you can't get these vaccines anywhere but these clinics! Doctors' offices can't give them out yet, and my doctor has opted not to give out the vaccine for administrative reasons. This is very inefficient.

To KFL&A Public Health (formerly known as KFL&A Health Unit): please evaluate your system of organization. It doesn't work. At 10:30am, your line was 2 hours and went to the "information desk". At 3pm, the wait was under an hour. I was told at 5:30, the line was 4.5 hours. Then when I returned at 7pm, it looked less than 2 hours, by what I could tell. So that long line was a temporary blip (or an over-estimation). Why couldn't I get my vaccination at 7pm? You advertised you'd be there until 9pm! And clearly, by the line length, you didn't have a wait of 2 hours at 7pm. I don't understand your system.

Internet Woes

I have more honeymoon pictures to upload, but everytime I try, the internet goes down. I have a little snippit of a wedding video to share, but again, the internet is down more than it's up. (And when it's up, it doesn't seem to last long.) I have stories to share - some are interesting, some are fairly mundane, but everytime I try to enter it, it goes down.

So in the spirit of my whining on Wednesdays (haha), today, I will tell you that our internet is having problems. It's being looked into by our internet supplier, and will hopefully be rectified. If not ... well, we'll be SOL because there are only two companies that supply high speed out here: one is wireless (yes, the signal is wireless) and the other is satellite. Both are expensive to set up, but then cost the same as any other internet supplier once installed. Of course, there's always the new "stick" internet options (the rocket stick and the internet key are the two main options here). But they can both be expensive if you use lots of bandwith.

We went with the wireless option because it was already set up in this house (meaning we don't pay the expensive set-up fee). So here's hoping their repair works, because the other options are not ideal.

Anyway, on a positive note, we adopt our NEW DOG on Saturday!!! :) Yay! She's between a year and a year-and-a-half, a cocker spaniel / australian cattle dog / blue heeler mix. It's very exciting. I'll keep you posted!

How frustrating is this?

Since we moved in last Friday, there has been a buzzing on the phone line. I have had this happen before in past residences. It's annoying.

So I called Bell on Monday to ask them to fix it. I talked to Debbie, who had a strong east-asian accent. Whether that means she's in Canada or India is irrelevant to me. But I doubt her given name at birth was Debbie based on her accent. First, she asked which phone it was on. It's on all the phones. Then Debbie asked if we had unplugged all the phones then re-plugged them back in. I said yes, but in fact we hadn't. The problem isn't how we plugged in the phones, so it was a white lie. So Debbie sent out a technician for today between 8 am and 12 noon. Okay, that's a broad time (I'd prefer 9 am - 12 noon), but I'll live with it.

Today at 12:01 p.m. I called Bell to tell them NO ONE SHOWED UP.

The representative I talked to also had an east-asian accent, but she had a beautiful, distinctly asian name. Sumanya or Sumanka or something like that. I didn't quite understand - not because of her accent, but because the buzzing noise makes in hard to understand anything. I appreciate that she used her real name, I find that respectful and honest. (Many phone centre workers probably get yelled at by ignorant people who are upset they don't have an "English" name, which is why they switch to "English" names for their job. That's a shame.)

Anyway, back to the story. She said the Bell technician had fixed the line from their end, but she said that clearly they had not because she could hear the buzzing. I appreciated her recognizing that it wasn't fixed.

But it was still RUDE that the Bell technician did not tell me they had "fixed" the line. Obviously, this person thought it was fixed. But I wonder if the fix was laziness or didn't know how to fix it, or what. But had the technician just CALLED, he (or she) would have known instantly that it was NOT fixed.

Customer service? Pffft. I don't think so!

Parking lots

I think most parking lots are not designed. At all. Someone plopped down the parking lot as an after thought, and didn't even consider people would drive in them. I mean, if someone actually thought about flow and safety in a parking lot, corners would be open and visible. And yet parking lots are filled with blind corners, right corners, and and full shrubs (or worse - trees) are planted at corners.

Who in their right mind would create such unsafe corners? Sure, when you planted that shrub or tree, it was small. But with even a tiny bit of forethought, you'd have realize that shrub or tree would grow and fill out, blocking visibility.

Letter to random people:

-To the lady I almost cut off in the Home Depot parking lot:
Yes, you were on the straightaway, so me almost merging into your lane was my mistake. I apologize for not paying greater attention. But in my defense, you were going about 50 km/h in a parking lot, and you sped of nowhere, so I didn't see you. Plus, my stellar reflexes and defensive driving skills ensured I braked and let you have the right of way. While we're on the subject, perhaps you should evaluate the need to go so fast in a parking lot. Plus, glaring at someone on your right while driving forwards is not the safest way to drive. Eyes on the road, please, not glaring at other drivers. You could have driven into someone else while you were busy glaring at me!

-To the man behind me in line at Starbucks:
I realize you were talking to your wife, but you stood about 5 cm behind me and then loudly said something to your wife. I jumped because you were so close and so loud. I moved forward to give me more room between us. Next time that happens, please don't move forward. I like having a "bubble" of a couple centimetres around my body that I don't like strangers standing in.

-To the old people who live in the old people's apartments off Davis Drive:
If you can't handle driving 20 km/h on a street, you shouldn't be driving. It's a 50 km/h speed limit, and I agree that when children are playing it's better to drive slower than the limit, but 20 km/h for the entire street is too slow. You should not be driving: please be honest with yourself and consider the safety of other. Stop driving.

-To the doctors and family of the above old people:
It's embarassing to tell someone who has driven all their life that they should not drive any longer. It takes away their independence. But how will you feel if they are one of the few old people who kill someone because they confused the brake with the accelerator? Be responsible and do the right thing. And (in my mind) you are just as guilty if the above old person hurts someone while driving.

-To the healthcare agency that runs the "supported individuals home" at the end of my street:
I realize individuals with cognitive and development disabilities deserve dignity in their care. Large hospital-style settings were not ideal, they were impersonal, and they didn't provide adequate or dignified care. But are homes filled with three people who can't do a thing really the answer? On the house on my street, the individuals don't leave their house ever, your staff take out their garbage a full day before garbage day (which is unsightly and smelly), your organization doesn't clear the sidewalk of snow in front of your house (everyone else on the street keeps their sidewalks clear, as per the by-law requirements) and every now and then I walk by and hear the screaming of an upset individual inside. I don't see how that level of care is dignified. There has got to be a better answer.

-To the person who is buying our house:
We did give you last year's property tax information, which was our mistake. But that doesn't mean we're going to "knock money off" our house price. It was couple hundred dollars. The house is just over $200,000. You are concerned about peanuts and grasping at straws when you say the tax price was a selling feature. And you have just diminished our desire to clean the house before we left. We were going to scrub the house clean before we moved out. Now, you can deal with the soap scum in our your tub, and the dust on the stairwell railing. Of course, we won't trash or mistreat the house in any way. But we won't clean it to be spin 'n' span.




Ahh ... I feel a little better. I think I'll do this more often.